Monday, December 8, 2008

Who is the 3rd world country now?

I think this is important. Not just because I have kid. But because I spent time working for an employer who had (and may still have) terribly unfriendly family policies. This employer who I will call SlowShip had a policy of giving you sick days, but penalizing your stats for using them. I spent 3 months one winter sick, because everyone kept coming to work sick as HELL, and in the open triangle (no cubes) workspace- it was just a germ free for all. (At least in my current job, I have 3 walls between me and the rest of the office.)

that was when I started looking for a new job. My husband also worked for an employer who offered no sick time at all. Which is just as bad as SlowShip's policy. The reason employers should offer sick days should be clear. When I spent almost an entire 3 months sick, I know my production was not top notch, its difficult to focus when your sinus are about to explode or your throat feels like you swallowed a cactus. Add to that, no sick days. Multiply that by 100.

Now Mr employer. That is 100 people not working their best cause you won't give sick days. Tell me something.... Will you lose more money from the colossal loss of productivity for 3 months or from granting even 5 sick days to let the contagious stay home once in a while and NOT infect your entire workforce??? No lying. I know it cheaper to give sick days.

Here are a few notable stats about sick days from that article:

The United States is one of only four countries out of 173 in a recent survey that doesn't guarantee some form of paid maternity leave; the others are Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.

Sixty-six countries, but not the United States, ensure that fathers either receive paid paternity leave or have a right to paid parental leave.

At least 145 countries provide paid sick days, with 136 providing a week or more annually, while the United States has no federal law providing for paid sick days.

This is pathetic. I am glad that my current employer doesn't have such terrible policies. I don't spend months being sick because someone is sneezing and coughing on me. It still happens on occasion. But having a sick day is nice

Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, who co-founded the grass-roots, Internet-based group MomsRising three years ago, says policy-makers need to push harder for family-friendly workplace practices reflecting the fact that three-quarters of mothers now work.

"Our labor policies haven't caught up," she said. "Kids and mothers are falling through the cracks, and in a time of economic crisis the pressures will only get worse."